Press Release

Manila—Communities in Marinduque are still suffering from the impacts of the Marcopper Mining Corporation—contaminated drinking water, toxic freshwater and marine life. Different groups altogether filed legal cases of mining affected communities in the Philippines but justice is yet to be served.

"The Boac disaster is a grim reminder of the irreversible damages large scale mining has on the environment, on communities' livelihoods, and the lives of the people. Unfortunately, today, we are experiencing yet two other disasters - the lack of justice the people of Marinduque is suffering from the impunity that Marcopper and Placerdome is enjoying; and the refusal of our government to learn lessons from this devastating experience," says Judy A. Pasimio, executive director of the Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center (LRC-KsK).

Asia, Europe Groups reject EU raw materials policy
Says policy hurt indigenous peoples and worsens climate change

Brussels – International working group on indigenous peoples, extractives and climate change hit the EU policy on accessing raw materials yesterday, in a meeting of civil society organizations during the 8th Asia-Europe Peoples Forum being hosted here. They claimed that the policy, the Raw Materials Initiative which is embedded in the Global Europe Strategy, was impacting on the lives and livelihoods of indigenous peoples in developing countries, such as the Philippines and Indonesia, and effectively making them poorer.